"Do Not Be Like Them"

⁷When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. ⁸ Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!
Matthew 6:7-8 

Jesus was a nonconformist, did you realize that?  His talk on the mount is an eye-opener to those who have chained themselves to the rules and regulation of religion and call it "Faith."  Let me ask you something, and think hard about it, what denomination was Jesus?  Was He Pentecostal?  Was He Methodist?  Was He Baptist?  Was He Episcopalian?

Remember when Elijah confronted Jezebel's priests of Baal?  They kept "praying" louder and louder and even began cutting themselves trying to get a response out of Baal.  Is that what we have to do for God to hear us?  Jesus' own words in verse 7 remind us that repetition does not constitute prayer!  In fact, Jesus outright tells us NOT to be like those who believe repetition and prattling on and on is the way to get God's attention.  He said, "Don't be like them!"

To Jesus, the simple fact of the matter is God wants us to have a relationship with Him, not a "religion."  Jesus reminds us several times that God already knows what we need before we even ask, because He loves us that much.  And since God loves us so much, doesn't it make sense that God wants a relationship with us?  Ponder that for a bit whilst I go get more coffee. 

Simple Prayer

“Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Luke 8:48

When you think of prayer, does your mind immediately go to those blustery long dust-filled speeches?  Do you remember, with fear and trepidation, when "that person" was called upon to offer the Benediction and the grabbed the pack of the pew in front of them to launch into an hour long speech?  How about the prayers where "Father God" is every other phrase used?

 

Prayer is simple.  Prayer is a conversation with the One who knows you better than you could possibly know yourself. Peter, when he walked on the water at Jesus' invitation, and when Peter got distracted and started to sink, his prayer was very simple: "HELP!"  Sometimes prayers don't even have to be spoken out loud.  Remember the woman with the bleeding issue?  Her unvoiced prayer was "If only I can just touch the hem of his robe, I can be healed."  She worked her way to Jesus, and her prayer was answered.

 

Prayer isn't about how much we say.  Prayer isn't about having perfect grammar.  Prayer isn't about saying the right magical words so God will hear you.  Prayer is not for everyone else to hear.  If we aren't careful, prayer can make us feel smug because we believe everyone is impressed with our ability to articulate for hours on end (when actually they are just grateful that the prayer FINALLY ended).

 

Prayer is letting your heart speak!  It can be a quick as "HELP!" and it can be a simple as "fill me with Your peace."  Prayer is a conversation, so talk with your Father because He hears, not only our words, but the groanings of our spirit.

Let's Start Developing An Attitude!

But if we have food and shelter, we will be grateful for that.

1 Timothy 6:8 

 

Attitude!  Two things come to mind when I hear that word: 1) the very proud and arrogant; 2) the grateful spirit I need to develop.  We see the first one all the time: "NO ONE can tell me I can't have that....it's my RIGHT!"  You've seen this attitude.  You may even know some who have developed this attitude to a razor sharp edge.  But that's not the quality I want us to think about right now.

 

Let's focus on developing a grateful spirit.  Now, understand, having a grateful spirit does not mean allow yourself to be taken advantage of or walked on.  Having a grateful spirit means you understand that God allows things to happen for your good, sometimes we like them and sometimes we don't.  A grateful spirit is one that lives simply.

 

One program my Beautiful Bride and I enjoy is called "Tiny House Hunting."  People decide to "scale down" from their 3000 sq ft. home to one that's less than 5oo sq ft.  In order to do that, they must learn to get rid of things they don't really need.  It's always interesting to me to see what people cling to....collections of trinkets, shoes, guitars, tools, things they like to look at and like to have but haven't used them in YEARS.....but they just can't live without them.

 

Look at the words of the Apostle Paul: "If we have FOOD and SHELTER, we will be GRATEFUL."  The simplest of the simple things.  Food and shelter, and some translations include clothing.  The basics!  Nothing fancy.  Nothing extravagant.  Just simplicity.

 

Let's spend the next few days looking at Developing grATTITUDE!

Get Your Simple On!

“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

~Matthew 5:33-37

 

 I like things that are simple.  That's not to say that I like things that don't challenge me to think, but I do like simple things.  

I was called to be a witness in court not too long ago, and I was instructed that I must take an oath given to me by the Judge.  "Do you promise to tell the truth, the WHOLE truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God."  After my part was over, I started thinking about what Jesus said.  Jesus, in case you haven't figured it out yet, was all about SIMPLE!

In fact, He specifically tells us that we should keep our answers simple: "Just say a simple 'Yes, I will' or 'No, I won't' because anything more than that is of the devil.  Imagine how different our own little part of the world would be different if we kept things just that simple!  

 

"Honey, did you eat the last doughnut?"  

"Yes"

"Are you supposed to have doughnuts?"

"No"

"So you're going to exercise a little extra today to work off that doughnut?"

"Ummmm......no."

Simple!  Confucius has been credited with saying, "Life is simple...it is WE who complicate it."  I do believe there's quite a lot of truth in that!

To Simple To Understand?

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
~John 3:1-9

Nic was one of those HIGHLY educated guys.  He was smart in the "book sense" sort of way.  After all, it takes a lot of intelligence and degrees to become a Pharisee.  People looked us to the Pharisees, because they were the ones who were supposed to know everything about everything.  They were considered the brightest of the brightest.  Nic would have had no problem solving word problems.  

So when Nic comes to Jesus, he does it at night so none of the other Pharisees would see him.  He respected Jesus enough to call Him "Rabbi" (which is Teacher).  And then says, "We all know that God has sent You to teach us."  So Nic understands that God sent Jesus to bring a message and Nic wants to know more about the message.

Jesus gives Nic the very simple truth of His message by saying "unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God."  Nic took this very literally and you can almost see his mind explode thinking he's going to have to tell his Mom, "Brace yourself, I'm heading back it to be birthed again."  Nic had trouble understanding the simple message of faith and forgiveness.  

And so do we sometimes. Think about it, how many times have you heard "I don't like Christianity because being a Christian means I'd have to stop doing what I like doing!"  My experience has been that I didn't have to stop doing anything because the things I liked to do changed.  

What about "Christianity is just a bunch of rules!"  If you think about it, our entire society has rules we are expected to follow and there are consequences if we break those rules.

Then there's "Christians are nothing but hypocrites!" True, many "christians" are hypocrites.  But many more are not.  You find hypocrites in every segment of our world.  

The message of Christ is very simple: "Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.  Love others as you love yourself."  Yes, it is just that simple!

 

Simplicity

Later that same day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore. He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
~Matthew 13:1-9

Let me ask you something, have you ever had to listen to someone explaining something but all you could do was watch their lips move and hear the "blah, blah, blah" sounds because you had no idea what they were trying to say?

Honestly, why do we take concepts and ideas then complicate them until they are no longer recognizable?  This is why I hated word problems in school (and still do).  "If a train leaves Chicago at 7:43 and travels 80 mph to New York, and a car leaves New York at 8:00 and travels to Chicago at 60 mph, what color is the dog walking on Main Street in Kalamazoo at 9:05?"  REALLY?

I have also sat through sermons by Dr. Fuller Mummydust (insert your least favorite pastor here), and found that when the sermon ended, my mind was so numb that I could barely stand up to leave.  Why? Because the good Reverend spoke to me like I was in a Doctor of Theology lecture.  

If you look at the parables of Christ, you will see a pattern that would make Him extremely popular today (for those who are willing to listen).  Why?  Because Jesus spoke to people in ways they could understand!  The purpose for Jesus' teaching was to help people understand His message of peace, love and forgiveness.  The message is still simple.....or should be if we didn't do our very best to complicate it!

Keep It Simply Simple!!!